The son of a lawyer, Moreau studied law at Rennes, where, in 1788, he led a student riot in protest against King Louis XVI’s attempts to restrict the authority of the Parlements (high courts of justice). Moreau welcomed the outbreak of the Revolution in the following year and immediately organized a unit of the national guard at Rennes. Elected lieutenant colonel of a battalion of volunteers in 1791, he joined Gen. Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez’s Army of the North after France went to war with Austria and Prussia in 1792. Appointed general of a division in April 1794, Moreau helped Gen. Charles Pichegru conquer the Austrian Netherlands, and in March 1795 he replaced Pichegru as commander of the Army of the North.

On March 14, 1796, Moreau was given command of the armies of the Rhine and Moselle. He crossed the Rhine into Germany on June 24 and advanced toward Munich. Confronted with overwhelming opposition, he made a brilliant tactical retreat through the Black Forest, arriving in Alsace in the autumn. In April 1797 he discovered documents indicating that his friend Pichegru had been conspiring with the French émigrés (nobles in exile). He delayed in presenting this evidence to the republican government in Paris, and, as a result, he was relieved of his command on September 9, five days after the royalists had been expelled from the government (and Pichegru arrested) in a coup d’état.

Nevertheless, Moreau was made commander of the Army of Italy in April 1799. Returning to Paris in October, he played a minor role in the military coup d’etat of 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799) that brought Bonaparte to power. Bonaparte rewarded him with the command of the Army of the Rhine and troops in the Helvetic Republic, and on Dec. 3, 1800, Moreau decisively defeated the Austrians at Hohenlinden. The victory forced Austria to sue for peace, but it also aroused Bonaparte’s jealousy. The dictator’s wife, Joséphine, made no attempt to hide her contempt for Moreau, and, as a result, Moreau renewed his relations with Pichegru, who was plotting to overthrow Bonaparte’s regime. On Feb. 5, 1804, Moreau was arrested. Banished by Bonaparte, he emigrated to the United States. Moreau returned to Europe in 1813 on the invitation of French royalists and joined the allied forces arrayed against France. Wounded at the Battle of Dresden on August 26–27, he died several weeks later.

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